2008 Woodie Awards
Music for the Stage celebrates 10 years
Opera featured in production of 'Cosi fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti'
Carrie Wood
Arts | 4/3/08
Two pairs of lovers, a cynical bachelor, devious plots, disguises, and the music of Mozart will take the stage beginning Thursday, April 6 for Music for the Stage's production of "Cosi fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti." The Italian opera, which translates to "Thus do all women, or The school for lovers," is directed by associate professor in the department of music, Phillip Collister.
"This is our tenth anniversary of Music for the Stage. This year we wanted to do a large opera in order to honor that anniversary," Collister said. "We had a really strong group of undergraduate and graduate students that we could cast in the roles, so we tried to find an opera that we could use some of our stronger students for. We were actually able to double-cast many of the roles in the opera, so we have two different casts performing on different nights."
The story takes place in present-day Naples, and follows young naval officers Ferrando and Guglielmo who believe their fiancées are faithful. Don Alfonso, the cynical old bachelor, wagers with them that he can prove in one day's time that the men's significant others are fickle like all women. The plan is that the two officers will pretend to be sent off to war, but come back in disguises and try to seduce their own lovers. The remainder of the story follows Ferrando and Guglielmo as they seduce their girlfriends, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, and become enlightened in the ways of love.
The cast for "Cosi fan tutte" was decided shortly after the auditions were held in the second week of November.
Rehearsals started the first week of January, and, according to Collister, the cast has rehearsed two to three hours a day, four days a week. The cast, crew, chorus, and orchestra are all made up of Towson University students.
"Putting a full production of an opera is not without its challenges, whether it's for Towson or for a professional opera company. Opera is a very large art form; it requires a lot of different kinds of people to make it all happen. It's not dissimilar from a straight play or a musical," he said. "There have been moments that have been stressful, but it's nothing that isn't par for the course in putting together a production."
"This is our tenth anniversary of Music for the Stage. This year we wanted to do a large opera in order to honor that anniversary," Collister said. "We had a really strong group of undergraduate and graduate students that we could cast in the roles, so we tried to find an opera that we could use some of our stronger students for. We were actually able to double-cast many of the roles in the opera, so we have two different casts performing on different nights."
The story takes place in present-day Naples, and follows young naval officers Ferrando and Guglielmo who believe their fiancées are faithful. Don Alfonso, the cynical old bachelor, wagers with them that he can prove in one day's time that the men's significant others are fickle like all women. The plan is that the two officers will pretend to be sent off to war, but come back in disguises and try to seduce their own lovers. The remainder of the story follows Ferrando and Guglielmo as they seduce their girlfriends, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, and become enlightened in the ways of love.
The cast for "Cosi fan tutte" was decided shortly after the auditions were held in the second week of November.
Rehearsals started the first week of January, and, according to Collister, the cast has rehearsed two to three hours a day, four days a week. The cast, crew, chorus, and orchestra are all made up of Towson University students.
"Putting a full production of an opera is not without its challenges, whether it's for Towson or for a professional opera company. Opera is a very large art form; it requires a lot of different kinds of people to make it all happen. It's not dissimilar from a straight play or a musical," he said. "There have been moments that have been stressful, but it's nothing that isn't par for the course in putting together a production."
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